First install: GUI, automatic. It stopped at "creating users". Let it sit for several minutes to make sure it was not going any further, then rebooted from the "hidden" menu. Upon restart it brought me to gdm where I could log in as root without a password. System runs fine.

Second install: Text installer, completed without complaints. Upon reboot X does not respond to inputs but cli works, network down, just like 64-bit.

Made another install, this time using vinstall-iso-ng. Went smooth until askedfor time zone. Keyboard did not work and no scrolling. Rebooted into VL-7.1 and ended in login. Logged in as root w/o password. Started X and KB/mouse working. Unable to get network configured and connection. Interface flags, no such device.With vasm did some configuring and something hang. Mouse could move,however, no clicks. Got out with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.Tried alsaconfig and got error:

Question. Is there a specific reason why we're sticking with the 3.2 kernel tree? 3.8.4 is the latest stable release, and 3.4.37 is the latest long term release (yes, I know there's a 3.2.42 long term release). Is there that much of a difference between the 3 branches?

Question. Is there a specific reason why we're sticking with the 3.2 kernel tree? 3.8.4 is the latest stable release, and 3.4.37 is the latest long term release (yes, I know there's a 3.2.42 long term release). Is there that much of a difference between the 3 branches?

we had a lot of problems with 3.4 early on. We are trying 3.4.37 in B.0.18 it is much better so far.

3: GUI installer, install on a hard disk with no existing partitions: Installation dies at "creating users". Reboot and log in as root without password, to a functional system.

1: old text installer is missing some finishing touches, try booting into TUI, running depmod -a, then reboot to GUI2:Are you using a short password, or username? can you try with a longer one (6 chars) or more IIRC3: see #2

Did some more testing of GUI installer on 64-bit systems, vm and real hardware:With usernames and passwords 6 characters long, install no longer hangs at "creating users". It continues to where you reboot, and system comes up as it should.